Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309 BC-29 January 246 BC) was Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 285 to 246 BC, succeeding Ptolemy I Soter and preceding Ptolemy III Euergetes.

Biography
Ptolemy was born in 309 BC, the son of Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I. He was made co-ruler with his father in 285 BC, maintaining a splendid court in Alexandria, and he became sole ruler when his father died in 282 BC. The succession was smooth and unchallenged, and he was crowned in an elaborate ceremony at the old capital of Memphis to reinforce his pharaonic legacy. He was known to be a particularly aggressive collector of books, paying Athens a massive surety to persuade them to loan him the original manuscripts of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, keeping the originals and sending back copies. These works were stored in the Library of Alexandria, which Ptolemy passionately patronized; he oversaw the zenith of the material and literary splendor of Alexandria. He honored his father by creating a festival called the Ptolemaieia, modelled on the Olympic Games and held in Alexandria; it helped to confirm alliances and reinforced the grandeur of the name of Ptolemy. Ptolemy shocked the Macedonian and Greek world by marrying his own sister, Arsinoe II, in an unprecedented incestuous marriage, earning him the moniker "Philadelphus" ("sibling-lover"); they were compared to Zeus and his sister-wife Hera, or to the Egyptian siblings Isis and Osiris. Ptolemy was also renowned for his victories against the Seleucids, ensuring that Egypt was the undisputed naval master of the eastern Mediterranean. He died on 29 January 246 BC.